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The QNX OS is a versatile platform and while we have seen the PlayBook pairing already, it’s even better to see it in a super-charged car such as a concept Corvette. WIRED took the concept Corvette for a spin and showed off how the car can sync with a PlayBook tablet, BlackBerry smartphone, iPhone and internet services with the car’s own electronics. If you spend a long time commuting, it wouldn’t be a problem getting stuck in traffic with this many gadgets.

RIM has some decent PlayBook news coming out of Mobile World Congress including confirmation that we will see two new variants of the BlackBerry 4G PlayBook in the second half of 2011. These new PlayBooks support LTE and HSPA+ high speed wide area wireless networks. After this announcement, we now have confirmation that there will be four PlayBook variants with support for WiFi, WiFi +WiMax, WiFi + LTE and WiFi + HSPA+. In addition to the WiFi and 4G connectivity, each tablet can also support:

Something awesome to know about the PlayBook is that it will be able to play HTML5-based games right out of the box. In the most recent WebWorks SDK, we learned of an HTML5 game that’s really fun called Entanglement by Gopherwood Studios. It’s interesting to note that while RIM is promoting the fact that the BlackBerry developer community has 4,000 apps ready for the PlayBook launch, this obviously doesn’t include the thousands of HTML5 apps that will also be available through the browser. It’s a lot like how the media criticizes RIM for only having 16,000 or so apps in App World, when that doesn’t include all of the apps being distributed outside of RIM’s main channel. Again, openness will prevail.

“Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented. RIM is on track with its schedule to optimize the BlackBerry PlayBook’s battery life and looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet that offers superior performance with comparable battery life.”

Shaw Wu, analyst with Kaufman Bros, recently said that the PlayBook launch is experiencing some delays due to the fact that currently, the device is experiencing relatively poor battery life. Apparently, the device’s charge will only last just a few hours, and while the device is still in development, RIM has had to postpone the launch to the May 2011 quarter.

“From our understanding, this [is] likely why RIMM pushed out its launch to the May 2011 quarter,” Wu writes. “Keep in mind that QNX (the OS on which PlayBook runs) wasn’t originally designed for mobile environments but rather for devices like network equipment and automobiles where battery life isn’t as much a constraint.”Continue reading ‘Rumor: PlayBook Launch Pushed Back to Improve Battery Life’